Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan

TY - JOUR

T1 - Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan

AU - Otaegui, Amaia Arranz

AU - Gonzalez Carretero, Lara

AU - N. Ramsey, Monica

AU - Fuller, Dorian Q.

AU - Richter, Tobias

PY - 2018/7/31

Y1 - 2018/7/31

N2 - The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6–11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the “founder crops” of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.

AB - The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6–11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the “founder crops” of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - bread

KW - Palaeolithic

KW - Epipalaeolithic

KW - Natufian

KW - southwest Asia

KW - Shuayqa 1

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1801071115

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1801071115

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 30012614

SN - 0027-8424

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

M1 - 201801071

ER -